Stakeholders Appeals For Timely Release Of Inputs To Enhance Food Sustainablity
Ene Okwanihe, Abuja
Stakeholders in the Agricultural Sector in Nigeria have appealed for the timely release of inputs to farmers to enhance bumper harvest and boost food availability to end food insecurity.
The appeal was made by the stakeholders in Abuja at the United Nations Development Programme, Global Environment Facility Integrated Approach Programme on Food Security (UNDP-GEF-IAP-FS) in collaboration with Women Farmers Advancement Network on the replication of Gender sensitive platforms in seven states.
The Deputy National President Nigeria Agro Input Dealers Association (NAIDA) Mr. Abdulrauf Lawal, while speaking at the event said the problem of farmers was not passage of bills but for the bills to be backed up with action.
“We want FG to make inputs Affordable, accessible and available so that farmers can use it on time to increase food for the population of over 200 million People”
He said there was a need to make the right chemicals available to farmers knowing that there are so many crops that need chemical applications while noting that Nigerian Farmers deserve the best.
According Lawal, another major problem of farmers is inadequate number of extension workers; there are so many farms and no Extension workers to help out on the farm adding that farmers also face the issues of standardization of farm produce , saying there was need to improve on all farm produce.
The Founder of Women Farmers Advancement Network(WOFAN) Mrs. Salatu Garba , said Farmers were not getting the right fertilizer to use on farm as most fertilizers have been mixed with sand and ash therefore there was the need for farmers to cry out.
“We need to report at any time we are being sub-changed, we need to take a step further by bringing the sample to show we must speak up to address the issue”.
She said there was the issue of sellers re-bagging fertilizers to sell to farmers because of the scarcity of fertilizers and they cannot guarantee the originality of the product.
Mr. Muhammad Ibrahim, a farmer from Jigawa called the government to ban the sales of fertilizer at open Market and use government agency to distribute across the country as it was done in 1960’s where fertilizer was waiting for buyers and not what is obtainable today where farmers waited for fertilizers.
Ibrahim said there was a need for the government to take responsibility for making sure that farmers get the right inputs to work and at the right time.
